A prospective client walks in with three IRS notices, two unfiled years, and a business partner who signed the same returns. Before you sign Form 2848, four intake questions decide whether you can take the case at all.
Preliminary work is the screening you do before you agree to represent a taxpayer. It tells you, before you sign anything, whether you should take the case at all. It answers four questions: what is the issue, is it criminal, do you have the competence to handle it, and do you have a conflict of interest? Only after all four are answered do you pull records.
The intake steps run in a fixed order:
A new client often arrives with a stack of IRS notices rather than a clear problem. The identification of tax issues means turning that pile of notices into a year-by-year list of disputed items, with each item tied to the document that can settle it.
During the intake interview, gather and compare four sources of records:
Common mistakes
- Treating written consent as a universal cure. Section 10.29(b) has three conditions, and consent is only one of them. Where you cannot competently and diligently serve both clients, no signature fixes the conflict. Candidates still pick the consent answer when the facts show the clients are directly adverse.
- Confusing the 30-day and 36-month conflict numbers. Written confirmation of informed consent is due within 30 days. The retention period runs 36 months after the representation concludes. An answer choice that reverses them is the standard distractor.
- Assuming IRC 7525 privilege covers a criminal case. The privilege applies to noncriminal federal tax matters only. The wrong answer choice says the enrolled agent's notes are protected from a grand jury, and in a criminal case they are not.
Bottom line
- Intake order: identify issues, screen criminal exposure, test competence and capacity, clear conflicts, then obtain authority and pull transcripts.
- Circular 230 section 10.35 competence includes having the calendar time to meet the deadline, not just the knowledge.
- Section 10.29 conflict waiver requires all three conditions: reasonable belief in competent and diligent service, no legal prohibition, and informed consent confirmed in writing within 30 days.
- Conflict consents are retained 36 months after the representation ends and furnished to the IRS on request.
Exam shortcut
Read the stem for the intake stage before reading the answers. A stem naming two people with one tax problem is a conflict question; a stem naming cash, two ledgers, or a special agent is a criminal question; a stem naming a deadline you cannot meet is a competence question. Conflict stems: eliminate any choice that fixes a directly adverse representation with consent alone.
The full lesson (about 3,931 words, 26 min read) adds 2 worked examples, all 6 common mistakes, a self-check, free in the app.
Learning objectives
- 2
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